Una evaluación ambiental previa de la Universidad de León. Ecoauditoría ULE

El proyecto de Ecoauditoría ULE ha sido realizado en el Campus de Vegazana de la Universidad de León durante el período 2003-2007 por alumnos de 5º de Ciencias Ambientales. Gracias a él se han puesto de manifiesto aspectos muy relevantes en cuanto a la sostenibilidad general del campus. Concretamente, la baja conciencia de ahorro energético en sus instalaciones, la gran variabilidad de consumo eléctrico y agua en los diferentes centros, la preferencia de caminar como medio de transporte para los miembros universitarios, seguida de un uso masivo del turismo con un solo ocupante, y finalmente, la percepción global positiva del aspecto ambiental del campus, exceptuando ciertas necesidades, como mejorar la iluminación nocturna y las plazas de aparcamiento para bicicleta

Analysis of ecological and social interactions along the flow of ecosystem services : suggestions for the management of th river Piedra floodplain

Programa de Doctorado en Estudios MedioambientalesLa evaluación de los servicios de los ecosistemas (los beneficios directos e indirectos que los seres humanos obtenemos de los ecosistemas) se ha convertido en una herramienta común y útil para la gestión de los ecosistemas por su conexión directa con las diferentes dimensiones del bienestar humano. Los servicios de los ecosistemas pueden valorarse desde el punto de vista económico (estimando el valor de uso y no-uso de los ecosistemas en términos monetarios), ecológico (midiendo funciones ecológicas o propiedades del ecosistema) o social (basado en los valores que la sociedad atribuye a cada servicio de los ecosistemas). La mayor parte de los estudios que utilizan esta herramienta han utilizado el enfoque económico, mientras que los enfoques ecológico y social han recibido menor atención, por lo que se dispone de métodos menos generalizados para su aplicación. Esta tesis doctoral contribuye a interpretar la relación entre los aspectos ecológicos y sociales que influyen en el flujo de servicios de los ecosistemas y a aplicar el análisis de estas interacciones a la gestión de los ecosistemas, tomando como área de estudio la llanura de inundación del río Piedra (cuenca del Ebro, NE España). Las llanuras de inundación de los ríos suelen estar compuestas por un mosaico de usos del suelo que incluye desde bosques de ribera y praderas a cultivos y zonas urbanas o industriales. Encontrar un modelo de gestión sostenible para las llanuras de inundación es especialmente crítico ya que éstas constituyen uno de los hábitats más amenazados y uno de los principales focos de biodiversidad terrestre; mientras que por otra parte, están mayoritariamente dedicadas a la producción agrícola y son el segundo lugar a nivel mundial con mayor interés para el desarrollo urbanístico. Por ello, comprender y evaluar los servicios de las llanuras de inundación, así como incluir estos aspectos en las políticas territoriales y ambientales es fundamental para lograr una provisión equilibrada de servicios a largo plazo. Respecto a la valoración ecológica de los servicios de las llanuras de inundación, esta tesis doctoral profundiza en el valor que aporta cada uno de los principales usos del suelo identificados en la llanura de inundación del río Piedra. Para ello, se han estimado los servicios que proporcionan cada uso del suelo y la diversidad vegetal asociada a ellos a partir de datos obtenidos mediante muestreos en campo y de datos públicos. Además, se ha estimado la provisión de servicios a tres escalas espaciales: parcela, municipio y paisaje (la llanura de inundación en conjunto). Los datos han sido analizados mediante modelos lineales generalizados y mixtos, tests multi-comparativos y análisis de correlaciones. De esta manera se han identificado, por una parte, los servicios asociados a cada uso del suelo y el efecto del tipo de uso de suelo en la relación servicios-biodiversidad. Por ejemplo, los hábitats naturales y semi-naturales proporcionaron más servicios y albergaron más diversidad que los usos de suelo cultivados. Además, la mayoría de los índices de diversidad vegetal se correlacionaron positivamente con los servicios de provisión de hábitat y educación ambiental y negativamente con la provisión de alimentos. Por otra parte, se han identificado las sinergias y antagonismos entre servicios de los ecosistemas en los diferentes usos del suelo y escalas espaciales, observando que la escala espacial de análisis determina la estimación de los servicios. Por ejemplo, a escala de parcela, nuestros resultados demuestran que los bosques de ribera proporcionan mayor cantidad de servicios de los ecosistemas, mientras que a escala municipal y de paisaje son los cultivos de cereal los que mayor cantidad de servicios proporcionan debido a que ocupan la mayor extensión de terreno. Además, se propone una clasificación de las interacciones entre servicios de los ecosistemas, según sean de origen biofísico o social (es decir, derivadas de los valores sociales que rigen las decisiones de gestión), para identificar las causas de los antagonismos entre servicios de los ecosistemas. Respecto a la valoración social de los servicios de los ecosistemas, se ha revisado la literatura científica considerando la escala espacio-temporal utilizada, los tipos de participantes involucrados y los métodos empleados. Esta revisión ha constatado que la mayoría de los estudios se llevan a cabo a escala municipal o supra local, los residentes locales sólo están incluidos en un tercio de las evaluaciones, y que los métodos más utilizados son la identificación de servicios de los ecosistemas y el orden de preferencias. En base a estos resultados se han desarrollado unas directrices en las que se establecen los puntos fundamentales a incluir en la valoración social de los servicios de los ecosistemas para que los resultados puedan ser comparables y transferibles, y se ha aplicado el modelo propuesto en la valoración social de los servicios de los ecosistemas del valle del Piedra. Además, se han explorado las interacciones tanto ecológicas como sociales que intervienen en el flujo de servicios de los ecosistemas al bienestar humano. En la esfera ecológica, se ha identificado mediante un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales que los servicios de soporte y regulación son clave para mantener el flujo de servicios de los ecosistemas a los diferentes agentes sociales de interés. En la esfera social, se han identificado las asimetrías de poder entre agentes de interés que determinan el acceso y la gestión de los servicios de los ecosistemas, mostrando cómo la capacidad de estos agentes para gestionar los servicios de soporte y regulación determina las relaciones de poder entre ellos. La tesis finaliza con un análisis comparativo de la provisión de servicios de los ecosistemas de la llanura de inundación del río Piedra en cinco escenarios alternativos de gestión. La elaboración de escenarios se basó en la combinación de un gradiente de intensidad del uso del suelo y un gradiente de restauración del bosque de ribera. Los resultados señalan que el escenario de conservación del bosque de ribera en combinación con un uso agrario no intensivo proporciona una combinación más equilibrada de servicios. Las aportaciones de esta tesis doctoral son útiles para integrar el conjunto de servicios que proporcionan los ecosistemas en políticas ambientales y territoriales. De esta manera se pretende fomentar la evaluación de los servicios de los ecosistemas desde múltiples perspectivas, promocionar los paisajes multifuncionales que suministren un conjunto equilibrado de servicios, incluir la participación pública en la toma de decisiones y lograr un acceso más igualitario a los servicios de los ecosistemasThe assessment of ecosystem services (the direct and indirect benefits humans receive from ecosystems) has become a common and useful tool in ecosystems management, due to its direct connection to the various dimensions of human well-being. Ecosystem services can be assessed from an ecological, economic, or social approach. The ecological approach focuses on measuring ecological functions or ecosystem properties; the economic approach estimates the use and non-use values of ecosystems in monetary terms; and the social approach is based on the values society attributes to each ecosystem service. Most studies assessing ecosystem services use the economic approach; whereas the ecological and social approaches have received less attention and their methods are still ill-defined. This PhD thesis contributes to understanding the relationships between the ecological and the social aspects that influence the flow of ecosystem services and to applying the analyses of such interactions to ecosystems management through the River Piedra floodplain case study (River Ebro basin, NE Spain). Floodplains are usually a land use mosaic of riparian forests, meadows, agricultural, urban, and industrial areas. Understanding how floodplains can be sustainably managed is especially important given that floodplains are one of the most endangered habitats and biodiversity hotspot, while they are mostly used for agricultural production and are still the second highest worldwide attraction for housing developers. Thus, including the assessment of floodplain ecosystem services in land and environmental policies is key to reaching a balanced supply of ecosystem services in the long term. Regarding the ecological valuation of ecosystem services in floodplains, this PhD thesis deepens on the value supplied by each land use type identified in the River Piedra floodplain. For this, we assessed ecosystem services supply and estimated plant diversity associated to each land use type. In addition, we estimated ecosystem services supply at three spatial scales: patch, municipality, and landscape (the whole floodplain) using field and public data. Data were analysed using general and mixed lineal models, multi-comparative tests, and correlation analyses. On the one hand, we identified ecosystem services associated to each land use type and the effect of the land use type in ecosystem services-biodiversity interactions. For instance, natural and semi-natural habitats supplied more number of ecosystem services and hosted greater diversity than cultivated land use types. In addition, most plant diversity indexes were positively correlated to habitat provision and environmental education, but negatively correlated to food provision. On the other hand, we identified synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem services across land use types and spatial scales. We found that the spatial scale at which measurements were taken affected the composition of services. For instance, at patch scale, riparian forest supplied the most service of any land use type, but dry cereal croplands provided the most services across the municipality and landscape because of their large area. Additionally, we propose a classification of ecosystem services interactions that incorporates societal values (as drivers of management decisions) along with biophysical factors as likely causes of ecosystem services trade-offs. Regarding the social valuation of ecosystem services, we reviewed current trends in literature on spatial-temporal scales, type of participants, and methodology used. We found that most studies are addressed at the municipality or supra-local scale, local residents are included just in a third of the valuations, and the methods most commonly used are both ecosystem services identification and ranking. Based on the agreements which emerged from this review, we proposed a set of guidelines that should be explicit in such assessments to enable comparisons across studies. In addition, we illustrated the proposed framework through the social valuation of ecosystem services in the River Piedra floodplain. Next, we explored both ecological and social interactions that mediate ecosystem services flow to human well-being. On the ecological side, we identified that regulating and supporting services were key to maintaining the ecosystem services flow to stakeholders using a structural equation model. On the social side, we identified power asymmetries between stakeholders that mediate access and management to ecosystem services. These analyses revealed that the ability of stakeholders to manage supporting and regulating services determine power relationships among them. This PhD thesis concludes with a comparative analysis of ecosystem services supply in the River Piedra floodplain across four alternative management scenarios. Scenarios were based on the combination of a land use intensity gradient and a riparian forest restoration gradient. We found that the scenario fostering riparian forest enhancement and no intensive agricultural use supplied a more balanced set of ecosystem services. This PhD thesis contributes to provide tools for integrating the assessment of ecosystem services in environmental and land management policies. In doing so, we aim to foster the assessment of ecosystem services from multiple approaches, promote multifunctional landscapes that provide a balanced set of ecosystem services, include public participation in decision-making, and achieve a more equal access to ecosystem services.Universidad Pablo de Olavide. Departamento de Antropología Social, Psicología Básica y Salud Públic

Modelling landscape management scenarios for equitable and sustainable futures in rural areas based on ecosystem services

Scenario analysis is a useful technique to inform landscape planning of social-ecological systems by modelling future trends in ecosystem service supply and distribution. This is especially critical in floodplain agroecosystems of rural areas, which are at risk of losing riparian forest corridors due to increasing land use conversion for agricultural production and other ecosystem services due to rural abandonment. However, few studies investigating the effects of land management combine social and ecological modelling in scenario analyses. We estimated the supply of 16 ecosystem services under five alternative scenarios along two gradients: agricultural intensification of the floodplain and active ecological restoration of the riparian forest. We used redundancy analyses to detect ecosystem service bundles and interviews to identify societal gains and losses associated with each management scenario. Our results show how land management influences both the supply and distribution of ecosystem services. Scenarios promoting active ecological restoration supplied more services and benefited a larger range of societal sectors than scenarios focused on provisioning services. We also found two consistent bundles across scenarios, one related to less intensive food supply and another one related to outdoor activities. Interestingly, additional services were included in these bundles in the different scenarios, reflecting land management effects. Landscape scale management promoting both the conservation of ecosystem functioning and the sustainable use of provisioning services could supply a more balanced set of ecosystem services and benefit a larger number of societal sectors, contributing to more equitable and sustainable futures in rural areas

Can we have it all? The role of grassland conservation in supporting forage production and plant diversity

Context A key global challenge is to meet both the growing demand for food and feed while maintaining biodiversity’s supporting functions. Protected grasslands, such as Natura 2000 sites in Europe, may play an important role in harmonising productivity and biodiversity goals. This work contributes to an understanding of the relationship between forage production and plant diversity in protected and non-protected grasslands. Objectives We aimed to identify differences in plant diversity and forage production between protected and non-protected grasslands by assessing the effects of land-use intensity (i.e. mowing, grazing, fertilising) on these variables. Methods Data were available for 95 managed grassland plots (50 × 50 m) in real-managed landscapes. After controlling for site conditions in the analysis, we tested for significant differences between protected and non-protected grasslands and used a multi-group structural equation modelling (SEM) framework to investigate the linkages between land-use intensity, biomass and plant diversity. Results In protected grasslands, plant diversity was significantly higher while forage production was significantly lower. In non-protected grasslands we found significantly higher land-use intensity, particularly in relation to mowing and fertilisation. Grazing intensity did not significantly differ between protected and non-protected grasslands. In non-protected grasslands we found a significant negative association between forage production and plant diversity. However, this effect was not significant in protected grasslands. We also found a negative association between land-use and plant diversity in both grassland types that was related to mowing and fertilising intensity. These two management aspects also influenced the positive association between land-use intensity and forage production. Furthermore, environmental conditions had a positive effect on forage production and a negative effect on plant diversity in protected grasslands. Conclusions Our results confirm that the protection of grassland sites is successful in achieving higher plant diversity compared to non-protected grasslands and that protected grasslands do not necessarily trade-off with forage production. This is possible under moderate grazing intensities as higher land-use intensity has a negative effect on plant diversity, particularly on rare species. However, forage production is lower in protected sites as it is driven by mowing and fertilisation intensity. Future research needs to further investigate if the nature of these relationships depends on the livestock type or other management practices

Nilpotent and abelian Hall subgroups in finite groups

First published in Transactions of the American Mathematical Society in volume 368 and number 4, APR 2016, published by the American Mathematical Society[EN] We give a characterization of the finite groups having nilpotent or abelian Hall pi-subgroups that can easily be verified using the character table.The research of the first, second, fourth, fifth, and sixth authors was supported by the Prometeo/Generalitat Valenciana, Proyectos MTM2010-15296, MTM2010-19938-C03-02 Fundacio Bancaixa P11B2010-47 and Fondos Feder. The third author gratefully acknowledges financial support by ERC Advanced Grant 291512. The seventh author was supported by the NSA (grant H98230-13-1-0229). The eighth author gratefully acknowledges the support of the NSF (grants DMS-0901241 and DMS-1201374).Beltran, A.; Felipe Román, MJ.; Malle, G.; Moreto Quintana, A.; Navarro Ortega, G.; Sanus Vitoria, L.; Solomon, R.... (2016). Nilpotent and abelian Hall subgroups in finite groups. Transactions of the American Mathematical Society. 368(4):2497-2513. https://doi.org/10.1090/tran/6381S24972513368

Proteomic Study of the Interactions between Phages and the Bacterial Host Klebsiella pneumoniae

Phages and bacteria have acquired resistance mechanisms for protection. In this context, the aims of the present study were to analyze the proteins isolated from 21 novel lytic phages of Klebsiella pneumoniae in search of defense mechanisms against bacteria and also to determine the infective capacity of the phages. A proteomic study was also conducted to investigate the defense mechanisms of two clinical isolates of K. pneumoniae infected by phages. For this purpose, the 21 lytic phages were sequenced and de novo assembled. The host range was determined in a collection of 47 clinical isolates of K. pneumoniae, revealing the variable infective capacity of the phages. Genome sequencing showed that all of the phages were lytic phages belonging to the order Caudovirales. Phage sequence analysis revealed that the proteins were organized in functional modules within the genome. Although most of the proteins have unknown functions, multiple proteins were associated with defense mechanisms against bacteria, including the restriction-modification system, the toxin-antitoxin system, evasion of DNA degradation, blocking of host restriction and modification, the orphan CRISPR-Cas system, and the anti-CRISPR system. Proteomic study of the phage-host interactions (i.e., between isolates K3574 and K3320, which have intact CRISPR-Cas systems, and phages vB_KpnS-VAC35 and vB_KpnM-VAC36, respectively) revealed the presence of several defense mechanisms against phage infection (prophage, defense/virulence/resistance, oxidative stress and plasmid proteins) in the bacteria, and of the Acr candidate (anti-CRISPR protein) in the phages. IMPORTANCE Researchers, including microbiologists and infectious disease specialists, require more knowledge about the interactions between phages and their bacterial hosts and about their defense mechanisms. In this study, we analyzed the molecular mechanisms of viral and bacterial defense in phages infecting clinical isolates of K. pneumoniae. Viral defense mechanisms included restriction-modification system evasion, the toxin-antitoxin (TA) system, DNA degradation evasion, blocking of host restriction and modification, and resistance to the abortive infection system, anti-CRISPR and CRISPR-Cas systems. Regarding bacterial defense mechanisms, proteomic analysis revealed expression of proteins involved in the prophage (FtsH protease modulator), plasmid (cupin phosphomannose isomerase protein), defense/virulence/resistance (porins, efflux pumps, lipopolysaccharide, pilus elements, quorum network proteins, TA systems, and methyltransferases), oxidative stress mechanisms, and Acr candidates (anti-CRISPR protein). The findings reveal some important molecular mechanisms involved in the phage-host bacterial interactions; however, further study in this field is required to improve the efficacy of phage therapy.This study was funded by grant PI19/00878 and PI22/00323 awarded to M.T. within the State Plan for R1D1I 2013-2016 (National Plan for Scientific Research, Technological Development, and Innovation 2008-2011) and cofinanced by the ISCIII-Deputy General Directorate for Evaluation and Promotion of Research/European Regional Development Fund “A Way of Making Europe” and Instituto de Salud Carlos III FEDER, Spanish Network for the Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI; RD16/0016/0006 and RD16/0016/0008), CIBERINFEC (CIBER21/13/00012, CB21/13/00049, CIBER21/13/00084, and CIBER21/13/00095), and Personalized Medicine Project (MePRAM; PMP/00092) and also by the Study Group on Mechanisms of Action and Resistance to Antimicrobials, GEMARA (SEIMC; http://www.seimc.org/). M.T. was financially supported by the Miguel Servet Research Program (SERGAS and ISCIII). I.B. was financially supported by pFIS program (ISCIII, FI20/00302). O.P., L.F.-G., and M.L. were financially supported by grants IN606A-2020/035, IN606B-2021/013, and IN606C-2022/002, respectively (GAIN; Xunta de Galicia). The authors acknowledge CESGA (www.cesga.es) in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, for providing access to computing facilities and the RIAIDT-USC analytical facilities. Finally, We thank researchers from the Spanish Network of Bacteriophages and Transducer Elements (FAGOMA) for contributing the lytic phages. I.B., L.B., O.P., and L.F.-G. developed the experiments, analyzed the results, and wrote the original manuscript. M.L., C.O.C. and A.B.P. helped to prepare the visual presentation of the results. F.F.C., Á.P., L.M.-M., and J.O.-I. rewrote the manuscript. M.T. financed and directed the experiments and supervised the writing of the originalmanuscript. We declare that there are no conflicts of interest.S

Role of atrial tissue remodeling on rotor dynamics an in vitro study

The objective of this article is to present an in vitro model of atrial cardiac tissue that could serve to study the mechanisms of remodeling related to atrial fibrillation (AF). We analyze the modification on gene expression and modifications on rotor dynamics following tissue remodeling. Atrial murine cells (HL-1 myocytes) were maintained in culture after the spontaneous initiation of AF and analyzed at two time points: 3.1 +/- 1.3 and 9.7 +/- 0.5 days after AF initiation. The degree of electrophysiological remodeling (i.e., relative gene expression of key ion channels) and structural inhomogeneity was compared between early and late cell culture times both in nonfibrillating and fibrillating cell cultures. In addition, the electrophysiological characteristics of in vitro fibrillation [e.g., density of phase singularities (PS/cm2), dominant frequency, and rotor meandering] analyzed by means of optical mapping were compared with the degree of electrophysiological remodeling. Fibrillating cell cultures showed a differential ion channel gene expression associated with atrial tissue remodeling (i.e., decreased SCN5A, CACN1C, KCND3, and GJA1 and increased KCNJ2) not present in nonfibrillating cell cultures. Also, fibrillatory complexity was increased in late- vs. early stage cultures (1.12 +/- 0.14 vs. 0.43 +/- 0.19 PS/cm(2), P < 0.01), which was associated with changes in the electrical reentrant patterns (i.e., decrease in rotor tip meandering and increase in wavefront curvature). HL-1 cells can reproduce AF features such as electrophysiological remodeling and an increased complexity of the electrophysiological behavior associated with the fibrillation time that resembles those occurring in patients with chronic AF.This work was supported in part by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PLE2009-0152), the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain: PI13-01882, PI13-00903, and TEC2013-50391-EXP), and the Red de Investigacion Cardiovacular (RIC) from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain).Climent, A.; Guillem Sánchez, MS.; Fuentes, L.; Lee, P.; Bollensdorff, C.; Fernandez-Santos, M.; Suarez-Sancho, S.... (2015). Role of atrial tissue remodeling on rotor dynamics an in vitro study. AJP - Heart and Circulatory Physiology. 309(11):H1964-H1973. doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00055.2015SH1964H197330911Allessie, M. (2002). 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MicroRNA expression profiling in Imatinib-resistant Chronic Myeloid Leukemia patients without clinically significant ABL1-mutations

The development of Imatinib Mesylate (IM), the first specific inhibitor of BCR-ABL1, has had a major impact in patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), establishing IM as the standard therapy for CML. Despite the clinical success obtained with the use of IM, primary resistance to IM and molecular evidence of persistent disease has been observed in 20-25% of IM treated patients. The existence of second generation TK inhibitors, which are effective in patients with IM resistance, makes identification of predictors of resistance to IM an important goal in CML. In this study, we have identified a group of 19 miRNAs that may predict clinical resistance to IM in patients with newly diagnosed CML